


to new beginnings

by slaapkat



Series: a world with love [14]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Gen, they're buddies who bond over being nerds and that's why they're friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 13:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17623061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slaapkat/pseuds/slaapkat
Summary: The last time he did something for Christmas-- he’d held an entire museum banquet hall hostage, while dressed as Santa Clause, as a cover for his heist of a set of statues in the same building.





	to new beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a fervor at 1AM on Christmas Eve and it shows, but I've grown to like this particular story a whole lot since then so I finally decided to post it here.  
> This story is part of an AU where Tim and Eddie become.... buddies, for lack of a better word. To make it even more complicated it's also an AU where Eddie is significantly younger (about mid-twenties during when this story occurs) and isn't characterized quite as menacingly as he is in current canon simply because I prefer him that way. Think of their friendship as sort of a Doc & Marty type deal, but with more in common with each other since they're both huge nerds. Bruce tentatively approves of it if only because he secretly harbors a soft spot for Eddie, too.  
> This is also technically included in @ufonaut's and I's "a world with love" universe but since while writing this I was mainly concerned with focusing on Tim and Eddie, Joker nor his relationship with Bruce ended up not getting mentioned so you can pretend he's hiding in the walls during all this.  
> That being said, I hope this isn't TOO terrible (written at 1AM after all) and that it's still sweet enough to tug at something. Enjoy!

“So, you doing anything for Christmas?”

The abruptness of the question nearly causes Eddie to drive his soldering iron straight through the circuit board he’d been working on. He looks up from his desk, turning to face the source-- a one Tim Drake, sitting on the edge of his bed and mindlessly fiddling with a Rubix Cube pulled off a shelf.

Eddie keeps his face neutral, shrugging slightly as he turns back to the task at hand; he doesn’t mind Tim messing with his progress on the Cube, and likes to think of it as merely an additional challenge. So long as it gets put back where it’s supposed to be, anyways. “Uh. I don’t-- really _do_ Christmas.”

He hears Tim huff a little behind him, and can’t help something of an amused smile.

“C’mon. Nothing?” Tim tries again.

Eddie bites his tongue and debates how to answer.

What he said _had_ been true. Eddie just didn’t… have much reason to do anything, he supposed. The last time he did _something_ for Christmas-- he’d held an entire museum banquet hall hostage, while dressed as _Santa Clause_ , as a cover for his heist of a set of statues in the same building. Sure, ending up on live television had stroked his ego for a bit, but it hadn’t changed the fact that the night had ended _very_ badly.

Most other times were spent in Arkham, with its pathetic Charlie Brown-esque tree standing alone in the rec yard, or holed up in his apartment or some other hideout fervently planning his next heist.

Before then-- well. Eddie doesn’t care to think about _before_ very much, thank you.

Besides. He was _better_ now. Mostly. The circuit board may have been the component of some remote-controlled device he was planning on building, but he wasn’t intending to do anything _bad_ with it. For now, at least. Who knew when his next Bad Day would be. He wasn’t going to stop, however. He needed the mental stimulation.

“Nothing,” Eddie says eventually, at the risk of sounding increasingly pathetic, minimal as that risk was with _Tim_ , shrugging again. “No… family, or anything. I’m not about to spend it with the other rogues or pay for overpriced drinks at the Lounge so, it’s… just another day, really.”

They lapse into silence again after that, as they were often wont to do whenever Tim showed up to hang out and playfully pester him only to find Eddie deep in the middle of some apparent _important_ task. Tim usually occupied himself with any of the various puzzles and games Eddie had lying about, sometimes talking aloud about whatever new development he’d heard about in this-or-that video game, comic book, or movie. Eddie, truthfully, didn’t mind it one bit. Tim was a good kid. They were _friends_ , and Eddie was grateful for it. Whatever boredom that was driving him from the stately Wayne Manor would gladly be spent in Eddie’s quaint little apartment without complaint.

“ _Nothing?_ ” Tim asks again, and there’s something suspicious about the way he’s asking it.

“...Nothing,” Eddie confirms, frowning down at his circuit board.

“Well,” Tim chirps. “Wanna come to the Manor?”

Eddie practically jumps in surprise at the offer, coming very close to ruining hours of progress with the soldering iron. His grip tightens around the handle as his anxiety suddenly spikes.

“I’m not sure that would be wise,” is all he says. He was a _felon_. An _escaped_ felon at that, currently occupying that indeterminate gray area in which-- while he had prematurely left Arkham of his own accord a great deal of months ago, he hadn’t really _done_ anything necessitating extended effort to find him again. Gotham being the way that it was, the cops had admittedly far greater things to worry about. No doubt the Batman still kept stringent tabs on him, but so long he largely left Eddie alone, he didn’t care.

And… there was Tim’s _family_ to consider. Eddie knew _of_ them, sure. Knew they… probably knew where Tim liked to hang out at times.

Knew they probably wouldn’t like _the Riddler_ crashing their party, regardless of _who_ invited him.

“No! It’ll be fine, I promise!” Tim protests, leaping off Eddie’s bed and crossing the short distance between them to stand by his desk, waving the half-solved Rubix Cube animatedly. “Really! I, _uh_ \-- asked Bruce about it and everything. He said I can bring friends!”

Eddie levels Tim with a dubious look. “Did you mention _me_ , specifically?”

Tim deflates slightly, caught out. “Well… no, but. You know he likes you.”

Eddie’s heart starts going a little funny and he’s forced to look away. Eddie _did_ know that, the few times he’s been close enough to experience the man’s unexpected paternal personality. Bruce was barely old enough to be his father, and yet-- well. Let’s just say sometimes he couldn’t help but _wish_.

He really didn’t have anything he could say to deny the offer further without outright lying, which Eddie found himself as unable to do as ever, the one compulsion of his he felt he’d never quite be able to kick.

“Maybe,” Eddie says, putting down the iron to nervously run his hand through his hair. “I’ll, um. Think about it? Thank you for offering.”

Tim smiles brightly at that, clearly excited. He bids his leave, then, placing the Rubix Cube back in its intended place without prompting while he continued to gush about how he _couldn’t wait_.

Eddie is left sitting at his desk with an uncertain frown, wondering just how an unlikely friendship with the _Red Robin_ had landed him here.

* * *

 

 

A week later, Eddie finds himself shivering in front of the massive oak doors of Wayne Manor, holding a vegetable tray and a single Christmas gift. Fretting over how he was meant to present himself resulted in him wearing an all-green suit, the nicest he had that carried little to no outward sign of the Riddler, with a black dress shirt and a simple, purple tie to complete it. The vegetable tray and present, too, was a result of the same obsessing-- wanting the familiar green of the shimmering wrapping paper and the assorted broccoli and celery to calm his rapidly fraying nerves.

This was going to be _fine_. Tim said so.

Eddie was just about to ring the buzzer again when the door is finally answered by a thin, gray-haired man in a butler-type getup-- _Alfred_ , he realizes. Alfred seems to look down his nose at him, eyes narrowing ever so slightly at the sight in front of him. Eddie finds it difficult not to wilt underneath his sharp gaze.

“Master Nygma, I presume?” Comes the dry greeting.

“I-- I was told--” Eddie stammers, feeling his face flush. He gulps and tries again. “Tim asked me to come.” He thrust out the vegetable tray and gift. “I, um. I brought… these.” Another pause. “No riddles, I promise.”

Alfred remains silent, staring down Eddie for so long he almost begins to wonder if he managed to knock on the wrong mansion, but-- then, steps aside, door opening with him. Eddie can only stand there in momentary shock before it catches up to him and he hurries inside with a mumbled thanks.

The Manor is-- _warm_ , like how a home _should_ be, like no other home Eddie’s ever been a part of, and that was just the foyer. He follows Alfred obediently through the halls, clutching his intended peace offerings close to him as he’s presumably lead to where everyone else must be.

It’s not hard to tell when they’re close. There’s a dull murmur that grows steadily louder as he’s led on, until they finally reach its source-- an expansive living room filled to the brim with Christmas decorations and food, a gargantuan decorated tree off too one corner, a crackling fireplace in the wall, and--

_People._

Alfred steps aside and introduces him with a bow, taking the tray away to be placed among the rest of the food, and the murmuring ceases almost immediately.

Eddie can recognize most of them, Bruce being the most obvious. Tim’s brothers, Stephanie, the Gordon girl, and one or two others which he had a fleeting recognition of but nothing he could pin down. They all looked up at him with a mix of confusion, surprise, and mild derision; Bruce, confusingly enough, almost looks _pleased_.

_Tim_. Where was _Tim_ \--

“You came!” comes the shout which serves as a dreadfully poor warning for the lanky body which soon crashed into him from behind, arms swallowed by an oversized sweatshirt coming to wrap him in a hug. Eddie huffs out a startled laugh in surprise, the tension by his appearance thankfully broken by Tim’s manner of greeting, everyone’s previous conversations gradually starting back up.

“Indeed,” Eddie says, somewhat stilted, then holds out the gift when Tim swings around in front of him. “Um. For you. As-- thanks. Merry Christmas.”

Tim grins, bright and wide, as he accepts it, then drags Eddie with him to the center of the family gathering.

It’s-- not an altogether bad time, Eddie soon comes to realize. Tim’s family is… surprisingly tolerant, hesitant as many obviously are to fully accept his presence.  It’s the combined reaction of Tim and, never endingly surprisingly, Bruce to Eddie being there which help make the transition all that much smoother. Tim, with his clear happiness that Eddie even came, and Bruce-- just being _happy_ , eager and careful to ensure Eddie felt welcome.

It-- was a _lot_.

Eddie had never had much in the way of anything resembling good memories surrounding the holidays. A torrid home life lent itself to a life of crime in and out of a mental institution. Days like Christmas weren’t ever something to look forward to.

But-- here? Bruce chastising Tim’s brothers for play fighting, Stephanie playfully teasing him for that one time she beat him up, Tim talking excitedly about his new computer and video games they could play with. Music flowing softly in between, the air warmed by the fire.

Eddie could almost be inclined to change his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr as @slaapkat! I also hope to have a semi-biographical fic about my interpretation of the Riddler at some point which seeks to fully show how I tend to characterize him in this little universe, but who knows when I'll actually finish it. Someday!


End file.
